City’s hopes and dreams die with every child killed
As the parent of a Baltimore City Public School student, I was heartbroken to hear of the 16-year-old who was shot and killed near Edmondson-Westside High School on Jan. 4, 2023 (“Edmondson-Westside High School extends class cancellations, counseling for students after deadly shooting,” Jan.
5). It is a sad state of affairs that Baltimore is so unsafe that parents literally have to hope and pray that their children will return home safely from school.
According to statistics, during the 2021-2022 school year, 15 guns were seized within the school buildings in Baltimore, and at least eight more guns have been seized during the current school year. Why do our students feel the need to go to school armed with a weapon, and why is it so easy for these students to obtain illegal weapons? Are they going to school or to war? Have the streets of Baltimore become so savage that our children feel the need to protect themselves with a weapon every time they leave the confines of their homes?
We must protect the children from the tidal wave of violence that has overtaken this city within recent years, being cognizant of the trauma caused by children being exposed to continual violence and how it will affect their mental development. I believe that every child represents the hopes and dreams of their parents — the hopes that our sacrifices and struggles will provide a better opportunity for them to be successful in life. So, basically, every time a child is killed within the city, we are forced to bury our hopes and our dreams. Each child killed could be the next Thurgood Marshall, Chick Webb, Eubie Blake, Billie Holiday, Charles Dutton or Elijah Cummings. If as a city and society, we cannot keep our children safe, we will fail!
Without our children — their creativity, curiosity, ambition, their gifts and talents — we will fail! Before we focus on attracting big business and corporate entities to Baltimore, we must protect our greatest natural resource: our children. I respectfully challenge Mayor Brandon Scott (for whom I voted), Police Commissioner Michael Harrison and newly elected State’s Attorney Ivan Bates to ensure that each and every child who leaves their home in the morning heading to a Baltimore City Public School will be safe. As we search for crime fighting strategies, we must insure that our primary goal is the safety of Baltimore’s children and students.
Safe Streets is a good start, but we need to focus on Safe Schools. We need to engage our faith leaders, corporate entities and anyone who has a vested interest in a safe Baltimore. We know that our Baltimore Police Department is both understaffed and overwhelmed. However, we cannot allow this to be an excuse when it come to our children. As a combat veteran, I can say that it’s time to change our strategy, change the mission and change our objectives. We need to roll up our sleeves and tell the gangs, the drug dealers, the sex traffickers and anyone who would seek to recruit and prey upon our young people that we are willing to go “all in” when it comes
to protecting our children.
We can’t allow our students to function in an environment of fear where they may even be afraid to go to school. We need to ensure that every parent knows that when their child heads to an MTA bus stop or walks the few blocks to their local school that they will be safe. They will be safe within the confines of their school and they will be safe while returning home. We cannot continue to “roll the dice” and cross our fingers when it comes to the safety of our students. If this is indeed a war, then it is one that we absolutely must win. Failure is not an option.
If our children are not safe in their pursuit of a basic and foundational education, we will continue to fill our local cemeteries with our hopes and our dreams.